The Agora MacroPolis

The national elections held on May 21 in Greece produced a landslide victory for the ruling centre-right party, which posted a winning margin of more than 20 points over its main rival, left-wing SYRIZA.
As the dust settles from this resounding victory for Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, The Agora host Nick Malkoutzis gathers with MacroPolis co-founder Yiannis Mouzakis and features editor Georgia Nakou to discuss what contributed to this result.
They examine what New Democracy got right, where it went wrong for SYRIZA and what the coming weeks could bring for centre-left PASOK as it eyes a comeback.
Useful reading 
Greece’s conservatives achieve big victory but fall short of majority - https://www.politico.eu/article/greece-election-mitsotakis-new-democracy-syriza-vote/
Mitsotakis needs new elections, SYRIZA a new direction - https://agendapublica.elpais.com/noticia/18602/mitsotakis-needs-new-elections-syriza-new-direction
SYRIZA’s strategic defeat calls for strategic decisions - https://www.ekathimerini.com/opinion/1211639/syrizas-strategic-defeat-calls-for-strategic-decisions/
PASOK emerges as the real big winner - https://www.ekathimerini.com/opinion/1211640/pasok-emerges-as-the-real-big-winner/

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Greece is holding general elections on Sunday, May 21. The vote might lack the drama of previous elections, when the country’s fate was on the line amid a devastating economic crisis, but it could still end up being a rather complicated and tense process.
The Agora returns to examine the key issues going into this ballot, who the main players are, what the parties are promising, how the vote might turn out and why Greece could need a second election, if not a third as well, to choose a workable government this summer.
Hosts Nick Malkoutzis and Phoebe Fronista are joined by Angelos Seriatos, head of political & social research at Greek polling firm ProRata, and MacroPolis co-founder Yiannis Mouzakis and our features editor Georgia Nakou to discuss all these issues.
Useful reading 
Extremely complex yet surprisingly simple - https://www.ips-journal.eu/topics/democracy-and-society/extremely-complex-yet-surprisingly-simple-6699/
Past austerity haunts Greek election as voters struggle with living costs - https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/past-austerity-haunts-greek-election-voters-struggle-with-living-costs-2023-05-15/
Greek PM says country has changed, seeks new mandate to speed up growth - https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/greek-pm-says-country-has-changed-seeks-new-mandate-speed-up-growth-2023-05-16/
Once Europe’s Headache, Greece Finds Its Feet - https://www.wsj.com/articles/once-europes-headache-greece-finds-its-feet-dbe9b73c

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After decades of making little progress in securing the return of the Parthenon Marbles from the British Museum, Greece appears to be edging closer to a possible deal for the repatriation of the ancient sculptures.
Last December, Greek daily newspaper Ta Nea reported that Greek government officials, including Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, had held talks with the British Museum’s chair, George Osborne, about coming to an arrangement for the Marbles to be sent back.
Further details of what this agreement might look like were reported by the Financial Times recently.
The Agora caught up with Ta Nea’s London correspondent, Yiannis Andritsopoulos, to find out more about these talks, whether a deal really is in the offing and what any agreement would likely entail.
Before that, though, hosts Phoebe Fronista and Nick Malkoutzis look back at the longstanding Greek request for the return of these priceless cultural artifacts, how that campaign has evolved over many years and how it has taken on a political hue at times.

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Recently Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis dismissed concerns about media independence in his country and labelled the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) assessment of Greece as lying in 108th place in the organisation's annual World Press Freedom Index as "crap".
In this episode, Nick Malkoutzis and Phoebe Fronista look into why Greece has scored so badly in the RSF ranking and try to find exactly where the problem with Greece's media lies.
They speak to Pavol Szalai, the head of EU/Balkans Desk at RSF, about why Greece scores worse than every other EU country when it comes to media freedom.
Also, Yannis Palaiologos, a former Brussels correspondent for Kathimerini newspaper, discusses whether the RSF index provides a true reflection of the shortcomings of journalism in Greece.
Useful reading
RSF World Press Freedom Index: https://rsf.org/en/rsf-s-2022-world-press-freedom-index-new-era-polarisation
RSF's factfile on Greece: https://rsf.org/en/country/greece
A game for press freedom in Greece by Stavros Malichudis: https://wearesolomon.com/mag/accountability/a-game-for-press-freedom-in-greece/
How Greece became Europe’s worst place for press freedom by Nektaria Stamouli: https://www.politico.eu/article/greece-became-europe-worst-place-press-freedom/
A State of Absolute Solitude by Tassos Telloglou: https://www.boell.de/en/2022/12/08/state-absolute-solitude
Greek Photojournalist Nikos Pilos Arrested and Charged: https://fom.coe.int/en/alerte/detail/107638266
Greece's triangle of power (2012) by Stephen Grey: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-media-idUSBRE8BG0CF20121217

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Since the summer, a surveillance scandal has been gripping Greece. It emerged that the leader of Greece’s third party, PASOK, was being spied on by the country’s National Intelligence Service (EYP) but that there had also been an attempt to install spyware on his mobile phone.
Over the last few weeks, there have been further revelations about the use of wiretapping in Greece. Lists of dozens of alleged targets have been published in the local media, fuelling a clash between the centre-right government and the opposition. 
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis claims he knows nothing about the illegal phonetapping and that under his watch the Greek state has not bought or deployed the Predator malware that is at the centre of the scandal, which goes to the heart of Greece’s institutions and democracy.
Official investigations into the matter have left much to be desired, while much of the mainstream media has played down or ignored the issue. In fact, much of what we know today about illegal phone hacking in Greece is the result of the persistence of a few journalists at small and independent outlets.
In this episode of The Agora, we try to explain what’s happened, what it means and what might lie ahead.
To help us understand this complex story, we speak to journalist Thanassis Koukakis. He was the first known victim of Predator and spent months trying to find out more about the use of spyware and sharing this information with the public.
We also speak to Nikolas Leontopoulos, the co-founder of Reporters United, a collective of investigative journalists that have been probing the surveillance story from its early days along with other media, such as Inside Story and Solomon, before larger outlets started covering developments.
Further reading
Inside Story
https://insidestory.gr/tagline/spyware
Reporters United
https://www.reportersunited.gr/en/7728/slapps-against-greek-independent-media-solomon-and-reporters-united/
https://www.reportersunited.gr/en/7002/i-am-the-journalist-being-watched-by-the-greek-secret-service/
Solomon
https://wearesolomon.com/mag/accountability/solomons-reporter-stavros-malichudis-under-surveillance-for-national-security-reasons/
https://wearesolomon.com/mag/accountability/solomon-files-complaint-against-intelligence-agency/
European Parliament’s PEGA committee
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/pega/home/highlights
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/pega-findings/product-details/20221114CAN67684

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The leaders of Greece’s three main parties have set out their policies, but also the political parameters, that will define next year’s elections.
So, what are the key issue at stake and what will decide the outcome of the vote, or more likely votes, that are due to take place in 2023?
Co-hosts Nick Malkoutzis and Phoebe Fronista discuss what we can take away from the appearances made by the leaders of the three leading parties at the Thessaloniki International Fair in September.
MacroPolis co-founder Yiannis Mouzakis and features editor Georgia Nakou join the discussion to look at the political and economic developments which will underpin the election campaign, ponder the permutations that will decide who will govern Greece next and muse about how many ballots will be needed to produce a workable result.

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